All's Well That Ends Well (Arkangel Shakespeare)

Rating:
Summary: All's Well....or is it?
Review: "Alls Well That Ends Well" is one of Shakespeare's "problem comedies", probably lesser known, in which a young woman of Rossillion, Helen, wants to obtain the love of someone out of her social rank, Bertram, the Count of Rossillion. Like many of the Shakespeare plays, there are moments of treachery, disguises and miscommunication within many of the scenes that complicates the plot.

To try to get the King to agree for Bertram to marry her, Helen offers to help the King with his sickness. Once recovered, The King advises Bertram to now wed Helen. Bertram refuses at first, but then finally relents, confessing to himself that he will never love her. Helen then tries to do many things to win over Bertram after he leaves for war, and she comes up with a plan to disguise herself and see him once again. Eventually, through a bit of trickery, Helen is able to win over by accomplishing his list of "demands" in a letter that he sent.

Some of the questions that one may ask while reading this book: Why would Helen want to bother with trying to persuade Bertram to love her, since he is hardly worth it? Clearly, Helen, the heroine in this story, is a noble character, but often her judgment in the play is something to be questioned. Another question to be considered is what makes a couple compatible, especially those that seem to be mismatches? This is a comedy that thrives on a social mismatch between the classes. A more poignant fact is that Helen is a faithful person to her words, while Bertram has no redeeming quality that makes him worthy of her (Bertram hardly becomes a sympathetic character mainly because he never changes from the beginning to the end of the play).

Overall, it is a decent read. But I think that "The Taming of the Shrew" is a better comedy, mainly because there is a stronger sense of character development in Petruchio and Kate.

Rating:
Summary: Not Quite Shakespeare's Worst
Review: The only play Shakespeare wrote that I did not like at all was "Othello." "All's Well That Ends Well" was never that popular. It lacks the hilarious tone of "The Comedy of Errors," the superb construction of "Much Ado About Nothing," or the profound messages of "The Merchant of Venice." Also, we can very well be in two minds of what to think of Bertram's rejection of Helena. The characters are not that convincing, and much of the humour is based on bad taste. But the play is not quite a flop. There are moments of suspense. There is some delightful comedy (especially when Bertram chooses to stay in battle rather than go home and marry Helena). And at times, Helena is memorable. I would not make time to read this play, but then it's not a waste of time either.